Even though the Holy Father has been praised by liberation theologians, he has always disagreed with that interpretation of the Gospel, even at the cost of finding himself isolated.

ROME — Even though Pope Francis is deeply concerned for the poor and has been praised by liberation theologians, there is a stark divide between the Pope and them, according to a Vatican analyst.

“There is a chasm between the vision of the Latin-American liberation theologians and the vision of this Argentine Pope,” Sandro Magister wrote May 16 in the Italian publication L’Espresso.

This is despite perceptions that “when, just three days after his election as Pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio called for ‘a Church that is poor and for the poor’; his admission among the ranks of the revolutionaries seemed like a done deal.”

Liberation theology developed in Latin America in the 1950s as a Marxist interpretation of the Gospel, focusing on freedom from material poverty and injustice rather than giving primacy to spiritual freedom.

While Pope Francis has been praised by Leonardo Boff, a former Franciscan priest and a leader among liberation theologians, the Holy Father “always registered his disagreement with (liberation theology), even at the cost of finding himself isolated.”

“He knows liberation theology well; he saw it emerge and spread among his Jesuit confrères as well,” Magister wrote.

Rather than being influenced by Boff and other radical liberation theologians, Pope Francis took to Father Juan Carlos Scannone, one of his professors.

Magister said that Father Scannone “elaborated a theology not of liberation, but ‘of the people,’ founded on the culture and religious devotion of the common people, of the poor in the first place, with their traditional spirituality and their sense of justice.”

It was this “people’s theology” that the Bishop of Rome has embraced, not a theology of liberation.

In the preface to a 2006 book by Guzmán Carriquiry on the legacy and future of Latin America, Pope Francis wrote of liberation theology as an archbishop: “After the collapse of ‘real socialism,’ these currents of thought were plunged into confusion. Incapable of either radical reformulation or new creativity, they survived by inertia, even if there are still some today who, anachronistically, would like to propose it again.”

This “dismissive” judgment of liberation theology, Magister said, is “an enthusiasm for progress that in reality backfires” on Catholic identity.

Pope Francis’ frequent references to spiritual realities are a sign of his nonalignment with liberation theology, while at the same time having a deep concern for the poor.

During a homily for a daily Mass April 30, the Pope said that Christ is the one to whom “the prince of this world” comes but can do nothing against.

“If we don’t want the prince of this world to take the Church into his hands, we must entrust it to the One who can defeat the prince of this world,” said Pope Francis.

And yet, on May 16, he reminded new ambassadors to the Holy See that he “loves everyone, rich and poor alike, but the Pope has the duty, in Christ’s name, to remind the rich to help the poor, to respect them, to promote them.”

Comments

Liberation theology makes the same mistake that ancient Israel made when it failed to recognize Christ as the Messiah. Israel was expecting a temporal ruler. I’m not sure if Israel ever got the point that for God it was far more important for Israel to be holy than for it to be a temporal power. Israel’s primary mission was to make and keep the Holy Land holy. In His temptations in the wilderness Christ rejected the offer of temporal power, and during His Passion said that His Kingdom was not of this world.

Posted by Anne on Friday, May 17, 2013 10:48 PM (EDT):

Liberation Theology promotes stealing from one person (against his will) and giving to another. Jesus never taught this.
Thou shall not steal.
_______________
COMMUTATIVE JUSTICE -
CCC: ” 2411 Contracts are subject to commutative justice which regulates exchanges between persons and between institutions in accordance with a strict respect for their rights.
Commutative justice obliges strictly;
it requires safeguarding property rights, paying debts, and fulfilling obligations freely contracted.
Without commutative justice, no other form of justice is possible.
One distinguishes commutative justice from legal justice which concerns what the citizen owes in fairness to the community,
and from distributive justice which regulates what the community owes its citizens in proportion to their contributions and needs.”

Posted by Anne on Friday, May 17, 2013 10:43 PM (EDT):

Marxist socialism which is “Liberation Theology” violates Church teaching.
CCC: ” 2425 The Church has rejected the totalitarian and atheistic ideologies associated in modem times with “communism” or “socialism.”
She has likewise refused to accept, in the practice of “capitalism,” individualism and the absolute primacy of the law of the marketplace over human labor. Regulating the economy solely by centralized planning perverts the basis of social bonds; regulating it solely by the law of the marketplace fails social justice, for there are many human needs which cannot be satisfied by the market.
Reasonable regulation of the marketplace and economic initiatives, in keeping with a just hierarchy of values and a view to the common good, is to be commended.”
This is correct - “..... on May 16, he (Pope Francis) reminded new ambassadors to the Holy See that he “loves everyone, rich and poor alike, but the Pope has the duty, in Christ’s name, to remind the rich to help the poor, to respect them, to promote them.”
God bless Pope Francis.

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